CARDUS Work & Economics

"Many of Canada’s embattled charities are still struggling to come to grips with plummeting revenue and a spike in demand for their services — and they’ve noticed that wealthier Canadians may have some extra cash to give.

"The faith-based think tank Cardus tallied up changes in discretionary spending and found that the wealthiest 40 per cent of Canadians saved about $1,150 on average in the first two months of lockdowns. That adds up to about $5.3 billion across the country."

Ontario’s gambling scheme is ripe for reform. 

The pandemic has highlighted both the importance of improving financial security for Ontarians and provided a unique opportunity for the province to cut its gambling addiction cold turkey: with casinos shut down and OLG revenue plummeting, the costs of getting clean have never been lower, write Brian Dijkema and Johanna Wolfert in Policy Options.

"Disentangling gambling money from legitimate tax revenue by moving OLG profits into a specific fund — preferably aimed at relief of poverty — would be the equivalent of the government admitting it has a problem."